Patent applications are documents prepared by licensed patent practitioners. These professionals are either patent attorneys (scientists/engineers with a law degree) or patent agents (scientists/engineers without a law degree). Once prepared, a patent application is filed with the United States Patent & Trademark Office (USPTO) where it is examined by a Patent Examiner. Each application is ultimately rejected or allowed to issue as a U.S. Patent.
A patent application has three main parts: claims, specification, and figures. The claims are a numbered list of sentences that precisely define what is being asserted as the invention. In other words, the claims attempt to define the boundary between what is regarded as prior art and what is considered as inventive (i.e., useful, new, and non-obvious). The specification is the longest section. It explains how to make and use the claimed invention. Finally, the figures complement the specification and depict the claimed features.
The profitability of patent preparation for law firms has been in decline due to a number of factors. More than ever, it is market forces rather than practitioner experience and competence that tend to drive fee amounts for preparing patent applications. The collision of these market-rate fee amounts with escalating hourly rates for practitioners creates a climate where often only entry-level and non-attorney practitioners can yield profitability. In some major general practice law firms, patent preparation is even viewed as a loss-leader practice to gain a position for licensing and litigation work. Complicating things further, a talent shortage is emerging with client demand for patent drafting ever increasing while the number of new patent practitioners minted each year trending downward.